Presence of a Champion
by Antilles
Summary: Half a year after Cedric Diggory's death, a few of his Housemates are trying to cope with the sudden complications in their lives - one-shot


_**A Presence of a Champion**_

**Summary: In the Hufflepuff Common Room, four close friends, now members of the Defence Association, deal with their emotions concerning the evening of the Third Task. Each one of them deals with the loss of one of their own. Unknown to them, a certain someone is watching the Quartet…**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Potterverse and its characters.**

**A/N: Just a speculation on how the Hufflepuffs deal with Cedric Diggory's death and the Defence Association. Just a quick note - if not for two other short stories, this one could never have been posted...I could lose my nerve before doing it... thanks to all who reviewed them**

_A Presence of a Champion_

The Hufflepuff Common Room was unnaturally silent. Most of its occupants were gone for the Christmas holidays, but there were four students currently lounging near the fireplace. The comforting surroundings, to which the four were adjusted, helped to soothe the girls' ache, and ease the boys' nightmares.

The room was familiar – the four friends spent there four and a half years by now. Bright honey coloured wooden floor, several tables for study, a long couch near those tables, and a few comfortable, overstuffed chairs were there, but the students ignored the chairs. Instead, the four found a comfortable spot on their own.

Justin Finch-Fletchley was sitting on the mantelpiece, dangling his legs over the edge, with one of them being right over the empty fireplace. He seemed to be lost in thoughts except for occasional glances he gave the other three.

Susan Bones stared into the fireplace, absentmindedly watching the motions of Justin's feet. She leaned against the wall, ignoring the chair right next to her.

Ernie Macmillan, now a Prefect, stood next to her, idly twirling his wand in his right hand. He mumbled something to himself, it seemed. From time to time, Ernie would swish the wand without saying anything – a fact that made it clear to his friends that Ernie was trying to remember certain spells he had learned over four and a half years.

The last student present, Hannah Abbot, was sitting on the carpet with her legs tucked under her. She, too, was playing with her wand. Unlike Ernie, who was trying to deal with the stress, Hannah was not even trying to remember anything. She just stared at the empty fireplace.

"It's so strange, to think he won't ever come through there again," finally said Justin, nodding in the direction of the portrait hole. The others exchanged brief looks and returned to what they were doing.

"We've got to move on sometimes," Ernie replied, pausing in his spellchecking. "I wonder how's Harry copying with this. Must be ten times as hard for him."

"Yeah," Hannah agreed softly." Poor Harry."

Susan stayed silent for the time. She knew what her friends were talking about – the night of the Third Task, when one of their own, Cedric Diggory, was killed by Lord Voldemort – a fact that most of the students – especially the Hufflepuffs – found hard to believe.

"So, you really believe that You-Know-Who…" Ernie paused, then waved his wand distractedly, repeating a simple Leviosa movement. "Ah, what the hell – V-Volde-mort…is back?"

Justin raised an eyebrow.

"You know, Ernie, somehow I doubt that Harry would lie about something like this. How do you think he'd make that story believable?"

Susan nodded silently, thinking through the events from that night.

"Remember, they were arguing in the Maze about who should take the Cup?"

The boys and Hannah nodded, each wondering where would she lead her argument.

"Well, if Harry wanted Cedric dead, he could have just let that spider finish him off when the spider had the chance. Why warn Cedric AND trying to help him, then suddenly being all noble? Neither knew that the Cup was a Portkey, did they, now?"

This time, Susan received a round of careful nods of agreement from her friends. Hannah seemed to have caught up with the things the quickest.

"And then, it would be pretty easy for You-Know-Who or whoever was with him to "take the spare one out"," she finished. "After all, it was Harry he needed, and not Cedric. Cedric just got in the way. And You-Know-Who did not need extra witnesses."

The students shuddered suddenly, each feeling a brief whirlwind sneaking around the room. The wind blew through Susan's ash blond hair, washed over Justin, who nearly fell off the mantelpiece in surprise, ruffled Ernie's untucked shirt, and borrowed one of Hannah's ribbons to play with. The yellow and black ribbon flew out of the window, and the window shut itself as silently as it was opened. The four friends exchanged uneasy looks and simultaneously shuddered.

"By Helga, what was that?" Justin muttered softly. "So, Han, you've got another ribbon in your pocket somewhere?"

Hannah grinned, and pulled a ribbon similar to the one she lost.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

Justin and Ernie exchanged amused looks.

"You have a habit of carrying extras around, just in case," Ernie explained, swishing his wand in a way to practice the Anti-Boggart charm. "It is such a normal occurrence with you that I am surprised why you don't carry an extra set of robes somewhere."

Hannah wanted to snap at him, but realized he was joking, so she decided to retaliate.

"Well, an extra set of robes won't fit anywhere," she replied dejectedly." Look at my bag – it's risking to spill everything I carry around as it is. An extra weight would be its end. Plus, if I wear…"

"Okay, okay, I got the message," Ernie interrupted her, laughing.

Susan sighed.

"IT just seems impossible to be real, this whole business with that You-Know-Who."

"Say his name, Su," Ernie instructed. "It's this our bleeding habit of not saying it. Just adds to the V-Vol-demort's prestige. Vile thing, if you ask me."

"Agreed. " Justin suddenly grinned. "Actually, that Lord Thingy HAD a name before he became a Lord Thingy." The title Justin used elicited giggles from the girls and a grin from Ernie. "his name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he was a student here. Remember that whole Chamber of Secrets business?"

Justin nodded in agreement, shuddering. He still had nightmares about being Petrified. Who wouldn't, he reasoned silently, if they would be?

"Yeah," Susan agreed. "Remember the Awards for the Special Services for School? T. M. Riddle is on the list of the recipients. He is also on the list of the Head Boys of Hogwarts."

"A bit suspicious, isn't it?" Hannah commented. "Clean record, extremely high marks, not a toe out of line…I'd be worried." She chuckled.

"Thank Godric for Harry-the-Rule-Breaker," Justin intervened. Met with dubious expressions of the others, he grinned. "He always pulls a certain Gryffindor Intelligence Officer on wild adventures that lead her to breaking a thousand of school rules along the way."

The girls and Ernie regarded him dubiously.

"Say that again?" Susan asked.

"I say thank Godric…" Justin started.

"No, not that," Hannah interrupted. "The part about the Gryffindor Intelligence Officer."

It took a few minutes for Justin to process the request then he grinned.

"Oh, that one. Well, the term 'Intelligence Officer' is mostly used in Muggle science fiction movies and novels, especially if it involves a space fleet. The basic duty of that person is to gather information for the benefit of their crewmates. I give you three guesses as to who falls cleanly under that role in the Gryffindor House."

The three friends were thoughtful for a few moments then Ernie's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh, you mean Hermione Granger, right?"

Justin nodded.

"Yeah, her. She's got a clean bill of Outstandings for her exams so far, and is pushing similar results from the OWLs. I saw her couple of times trying to goad Harry and Ron Weasley into studying, and the only time I remember her succeeding is a few days before the actual exam."

"She did not need to prompt anyone with the Dumbledore's Army," Ernie pointed out. "All of us went quite voluntary."

Glancing around, as if someone could have listened to them, Susan confessed:

"I'm actually looking forward to the next meeting."

Hannah, Ernie, and Justin all nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, I nearly managed to get that Protego spell up," Justin agreed. "I can't wait until we'll do the Patronuses."

"I wonder how mine will look," Hannah grinned.

As Ernie went over to open a window, Hannah, giggling, pointed her wand at the fireplace.

"Hey!" Justin protested. "What so you think you're doing?"

"How does it look like?" Hannah asked with a giggle. Susan joined in, watching her friend's wand. "_Incendio_!"

"Ow!"

Not expecting that to happen, Justin did fall off the mantelpiece with a start. He howled, as the sleeve of his robe suddenly ignited. Susan and Hannah burst out laughing.

Ernie, having trouble to keep his grin off his face, doused Justin with a jet of water from his wand. Justin, now wet and flustered, glared at Hannah.

Ernie howled with laughter, which broke up Hannah and Susan even more – this time because of Justin looking like a wet rat. Taking a good and long look at the window, Justin joined in the laughter.

The echoes of laughing voices in an otherwise empty Common Room floated around the dormitories, startled a few birds outside the open window and bounced off the walls of the room.

And the unseen presence of a Champion watched over his friends with an all-knowing smile…

FIN


End file.
